Appliances such as automatic clothes dryers typically have a cabinet with an opening in the front panel for accessing the interior of the dryer for loading and unloading the laundry. In the home, the dryer is often located next to a washing machine. Generally in such settings, it is desirable to have the dryer door hinged on the side of the access opening opposite the washer for convenience in moving the laundry from the washer to the dryer. However, whether the dryer is to the right or the left of the washing machine is often dictated by the location of pre-existing plumbing fixtures or electrical outlets or other structural considerations in the laundry area. Thus it is desirable to have a door mounting arrangement which allows the user to conveniently reverse the side to which the door is mounted to accommodate particular installation requirements.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,562 discloses a method for reversing the mounting side of a dryer door which is applicable to dryers in which the inner liner of the door is non-symmetrical, as is often the case. In this method, the hinges are disconnected from the front panel of the dryer cabinet to remove the door assembly from the cabinet. Next the inner liner is disengaged from the door and the door is inverted with respect to the liner. The liner is reengaged and the hinges are connected to the cabinet front panel on the opposite side of the opening. For dryers of the type having a symmetrical door, the steps associated with the removal of the inner liner could be eliminated.
Disconnection and connection of the hinges typically involves merely unscrewing and screwing the mounting screws attaching each hinge to the cabinet front panel. However, when re-connecting the door to the cabinet front panel, the door must be held in position with the screw holes in the hinge leaves aligned with the screw holes in the cabinet front panel so that the screws can be inserted through the leaves into the cabinet front panel. This can be an awkward task, particularly when done by hand by the servicer or the user in the home.
In one known arrangement employed for facilitating alignment of the screw holes during the initial assembly of dryers having non-symmetrical, non-reversible doors, the upper screw hole in each of the hinge leaves mounted to the cabinet are keyhole shaped. The reduced portion of each keyhole shaped hole is of lesser width than the diameter of the head of the mounting screw and projects upwardly from the enlarged portion which is of greater width than the diameter of the mounting screw head. The door is attached by first partially inserting the upper mounting screw for each hinge in the cabinet front panel, then aligning the door hinge leaves with the cabinet such that the enlarged portions of the keyholes line up with the mounting screws. The hinge leaves are positioned to allow the heads to pass through the enlarged portion of the keyholes. The door is then dropped downwardly until the upper edge of the reduced portion of the slots abuts the shank of the mounting screws. Attachment is completed by tightening the mounting screws.
Such an arrangement for aligning the screw holes works well for non-reversible door mounting arrangements. However, rotation of the hinge to reverse the door results in the keyhole slots being upside down. Therefore a need exists for a self-aligning hinge assembly applicable to reversible door mounting arrangements.